The "G" Shield

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1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, USA [May 2015]

–Jack Sullivan–

Well, what do you know, the President did have a brain, he thought to himself as he was escorted into the White House through the front doors. He was of the opinion of taking a slight detour to tour the White House but he had a hunch that it might just make the poor Secret Service agents suffer a heart attack as they tried to herd him away from the private areas, something that would have been quite unsuccessful.

So, instead of breaching decorum, which was impolite and not expected of him, he allowed the Secret Service agents, who were clearly very nervous even if it was all but impossible to tell if he used his normal senses, to take him to the President.

He was not really sure of the layout of the White House so it was possible that they were heading straight to the bunker but he was not really worried about that.

"So, Secret Service, huh? I hear the job is quite stressful." He tried to joke about the situation but it fell on deaf ears.

"At Least it comes with full benefits, right?"

"Please stop." One of the agents, the middle aged one, said in resignation as they created what was essentially a human wall around him, to make sure that he did not leave the decided path for him.

He shrugged and kept on walking. In the interest of fairness, he hadn't even used his barriers to scout the entire place all at once. After all, he was sure that completely mapping the place would involve breaching quite a few walls and well, there were sensors for that sort of stuff and while his overwhelming powers would let him get away with a lot, like disobeying orders from the Military when they showed up, but it would certainly be troublesome to be charged with treason.

Finally, after what felt like ages of turning around corners and walking in circles, they finally reached a dead end with multiple security guards standing guard, with rifles in hand.

He was then ushered into the office where POTUS was normally signing files which his secretary promptly took from him and withdrew from the office once she caught sight of him.

The President, on his part, didn't show much of a reaction other than a slight quirking of his eyebrow as he stood up and circled the desk to shake his hand.

Good Afternoon, Mr.Sullivan. I wish you'd called, I would have prepared a State Dinner for someone like you."

"Good Afternoon, Mr.President. I would have called but circumstances were unforgiving. Forgive me, but I'd thought that you would be in a safe bunker by now." He couldn't help but say as he sat in the chair.

Hmm, not as comfortable as he hoped it to be. Not even as comfortable as the chairs Tony had in his office, let alone the ones that Kamar Taj made, or Wakandans or even the Xandarians.

"Ah, forgive the extreme measures. It is something they planned over and over again, just in case, you understand. Anyways, what can I do for you?" President Eilis asked him as he leaned onto the table, the man's countenance changing from business casual to serious business.

"Ah, Mr. President, I wanted to talk to you about the recent incident in Puerto Rico of which you are no doubt aware of,"

The President made an "Ah" sound in realisation as he opened his drawer and took out a small folder out of it. There couldn't have been a report generated about the same this quick, could there?

He looked at the tossed folder and at the President who rested his head on his hand and gestured at the folder. He twitched his finger as a small green barrier covered the folder and lifted the entire thing towards him.

"Jack Sullivan, the Green Guardian. Strengths, weaknesses, known aliases, known acquaintances, known allies…"

ON and on the list went as he read what was basically all the military or the government had on him. After going through the entire thing, which was more documented than he had thought it would be, he finally reached the last page.

"Countermeasures for the Green Guardian in case he ever goes rogue.." He looked at the President, wondering what was going in the man's head when the man just lazily gestured at the folder once again, even as the man did nothing but stare at him as he read what was basically his own biography.

"There have been three known instances of the Green Guardian being overwhelmed. Ability to replicate any one of them? None. Weapons capable of breaching shields? None.

Emotional connections that can be exploited? Minimal.

Allies? Numerous and Powerful."

Basically, what the folder said was that it would be very hard to hurt him and even harder to put him down, despite what the recent events might suggest to someone watching over his exploits.

Replicating the feats that led to him almost dying were only two, first was the Helicarrier which would not work anymore because he was much stronger now, and second was the Hulk incident which only happened because Wanda manipulated the very reality around Bruce, something that he would rather die than let happen again.

"Is there any meaning to this?" He ended up asking, getting a tad bit irritated at the unnecessary byplay going on.

"There is. There is Mr.Sullivan. After all, the report clearly states that should you go rogue, there is nothing that the state can do to stop you, aside from begging the only people who may have the slightest chance of stopping you, and that, Mr.Sullivan is quite humiliating. A shameful state of affairs but it is the reality and we have to adapt to it. So, when I show this file to you, I tell you that the US government is quite literally helpless before you. So, with that in mind, what can I do for you?"

The question was the same but the entire environment in the office was different. Gone was the all business man, all that remained was a desperate husk who was all but daring him to go forward.

It was quite…weird.

He cleared his throat, "Ahem, anyway, I was just here to talk to you about that city in Puerto Rico and what sort of arrangement I was hoping to get done with the government." His barriers flared to life as it created a 3D model of the city's exteriors and the interiors.

The President's shoulders relaxed as he looked at the model in realisation, "Ah, yes, the Puerto Rican alien Kree city. Coulson should have come to me first instead of just waltzing in there. We could have–"

"Done nothing, sir. You wouldn't have been able to do much because the city itself is quasi-sentient. It can take control of human minds that enter it, with ease and then empower them to the point that only a bullet to the head can stop them in any meaningful way. I ripped apart all the limbs of a rogue agent inside the city and the agent was still able to use the powers to jump using just his chest muscles and lunge at me,"

That was true, and it was quite creepy to experience.

The President was left wide eyed at the quite graphic information that was dumped on him. Time for more then.

"Also, the city was an ancient alien temple used for rituals and activities that I am sure Coulson will tell you more about. By the way, about SHIELD, I thought the US government had declared SHIELD as an official rogue entity and was actively hunting it down." 

He was quite curious about that as well because some part of him knew that there was no way that Coulson was running around, running multiple huge military bases with a freaking Aircraft Carrier in storage, all while being hunted by the largest and most proficient military on the planet, save for Namor's if he decides to use up the entire ocean's worth of animals as part of his campaign against the surface world.

"Ah, I can see your confusion. SHIELD itself was declared rogue and its agents were being hunted down, its assets seized because, at the time, I had no way of identifying HYDRA from SHIELD, even after the various public trials and executions. But I have met Coulson and have my own men in the new SHIELD, which is vastly improved now. Now, SHIELD doesn't meddle in other countries' affairs and try to expand its power, it only interferes in its own jurisdiction, which is."

"--Aliens." He finished it for the President and the explanation did make quite a lot of sense actually.

"..Exactly. Coulson knows his limits and that is why, SHIELD is allowed to not just exist but operate using resources that the government mostly turns a blind eye to."

Well, not that that part is out of the way, he once again began steering the conversation back to the topic at hand.

"Mr.President, the city is quite advanced, even though it has been abandoned here for thousands of years. I would like to, once again, reiterate the sheer danger to any human that steps into the city unprotected but at the same time, I know that Humanity cannot afford to lose any chance of studying advanced tech to advance itself. So, I propose this:"

"I will allow a team of scientists to study not just the alien city but also..a full FTL spaceship, but–but, only if the team of scientists is truly global or at least, represent an organisation that isn't beholden to one country."

"So what? You want SHIELD to be reinstated? Or SWORD to be made online because let me tell you, SWORD is still years away from full operation even though we would love to get those carriers back in operation."

The news made him sigh internally. It was always the bureaucratic nonsense but he knew how to handle it.

By using Good Old Human Greed.

"Let me tell you something, Mr.President. The city could be the key to do mass enhancements to humans, soldiers, and then turn the enhancements off at the push of a button remotely."

The President's eyes widened minutely at the clear cut picture he was painting for him.

It could be absolutely game changing in war scenarios and even in urban warfare. See, the military could enhance its soldiers en masse but then they couldn't just let the soldiers work in the army forever. They would have to let them go on mandatory holidays, take care of their mental health, retire them, let them mingle in the civilian population.

So on and so forth.

The problem was that this highly enhanced population, once in the country as civilians, still held onto their abilities, representing a very severe public health hazard. Also, there could be chances of rebellion, betrayal, revolution, deserting, and so on.

All of the negative possibilities of permanently enhancing someone are gone, poof, at the push of a button, theoretically.

But even that theoretically was more than enough because from the looks of it…

"Give me one month, I will have SWORD up and running. I assume the spaceship along with all the other technology will only be shared with SWORD, on the condition that it be used for Humanity as a whole?"

"Obviously."

"Very well."

"Also, I will have one other team, my own working alongside yours as well. Anyway, I will be back in a few days to finalise the entire thing with the SWORD team which should be up and running by then, hopefully."

"--Wait, Mr.Sullivan, what do you mean by another—"

"Bye," He said and just jumped into the portal that opened up in front of him, snickering as he heard the sheer confusion in the President's voice as he told him about his other team.

He was, of course, talking about Wakanda as a whole. Now, he wanted them to be open to the world but he knew that it would be an uphill battle so no point in prematurely telling the United States about Wakanda and its advanced technology, and not to mention the sheer amount of VIbranium they had on hand.

"Um, what are you doing in my house? Get out!" He looked up at Tony who was nursing a drink in one hand and was looking at him with a very irritated expression on his face.

"Seriously?" He knew Tony was upset because of the whole city being taken out of his hands but this was excessive.

"What Tony means is that welcome to Avengers Tower. Tony is glad to see you. What will you have? Whiskey?" Pepper, ever the soft one of the duo that was the Stark couple, shooshed Tony and greeted him.

"Uh, Water only. Underage person here." He smiled at Pepper as she went back to the kitchen, understanding that he wanted to discuss stuff with Tony in private.

"So, what do you want, Little Green?"

He rolled his eyes at the petty insult.

"Look, the city is really hazardous and I didn't say that you wouldn't get access, at all. I just came back from the White House and–"

"Yeah, I saw. It was all over the news. I half expected them to call me to get Iron Man on the scene, just so that the President can be evacuated. What were you thinking anyway? Creating such a huge panic in the middle of the city in the middle of the day." Tony interrupted him while he nursed his drink.

"As I was saying, I got confirmation from the POTUS that SWORD will be up and working in about a month. After that, I will allow limited access to the city for research. YOu will, obviously, be part of that group. Happy?"

"That is good, I guess. How is Bruce doing anyway? I haven't heard from him in forever. He doesn't even reply to emails even though Jarvis tells me that the account is being accessed regularly." Tony asked him, probably missing his SCIENCE! Bro but there was not much he could do about that.

"About that, I was actually here to talk to you about Bruce's situation. I was hoping that your contacts in the military could tell me about Ross' situation right now. Because I am taking Betty to meet Bruce because I don't see anything else helping his situation right now." 

Tony's face turned thoughtful at that.

"Well, I don't think the old man will be any problem but still, let me ask around. I'll make sure that he doesn't make any ruckus about that. If I remember correctly, the old general does maintain quite a solid grip on his daughter's life if the rumour mill is to go by."

"Well, whatever it is, just make sure that it doesn't make much noise because Bruce's mental condition is really fragile right now. I was hoping that he will also join you guys on Mars once he is somewhat stabilised."

"..That would be nice, wouldn't it?" 

Yes. Yes, it would be nice.

Word Count - 2574

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